Sea going vessels are usually propelled by large diesel engines that are housed within the hull of the vessel to drive one or more propulsion systems at the stern of the vessel via drive shafts that are located in housings that extend from the engine or engines. Such vessels also have a requirement for auxiliary machinery, that is machinery that is driven off the internal combustion engines or turbines to power generators, pumps and a variety of other componentry that is conventional in vessels of this kind.
Because this auxiliary machinery is driven by, for example, diesel engines and there is a considerable transfer of force from the diesel engines to the auxiliary machinery and this force requires a substantial support structure there is a need for means to reduce or eliminate vibration which is highly undesirable as it can resonate through the hull of the vessel. One means of reducing vibration is to further increase the size of the support structure and this can be a particular problem where the ship is constructed of aluminum in order to obtain light weight. The support structure that is thus used to support auxiliary machinery usually limits access to the machinery especially access to the machinery services that are frequently located on the underside of the machinery such as electrical cabling, cooling water and fuel supplies. Furthermore, access to the mounting bolts and the machines themselves can be difficult because of the substantial nature of the support structure.
On high speed light weight craft engine rooms are usually congested because the need for high speed results in very large power units and thus physically large engines and associated transmission systems. In multi hulled vessels this is a particular problem due to the narrowness of the hulls and yet the need for an engine room that can house a power unit of substantial size.
It is these issues that have brought about the present invention.